NASSAU, Bahamas - The Ministry
of Tourism in conjunction with its industry partners will provide 110 paid apprentice jobs for Bahamians, according to Minister of Tourism and Aviation Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, who on Tuesday unveiled the first component of the government's temporary job programme.

The announcement came one day after Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham tabled a supplementary appropriations bill in the House
of Assembly to fund that programme. In total, $14.6 million is budgeted
for the scheme which will create
about 2 500 jobs that will last
for six months.

At a Press conference at the
British Colonial Hilton,
Vanderpool-Wallace announced that the Ministry of Tourism and the Bahamas Hotel Association will place the selected group in a variety of jobs in the tourism sector for a period
of six months.

Vanderpool-Wallace said that
at the end of the process, 20 of the
10 selected people will be offered full time positions. The résumés of the remaining 90 people will be kept
on file at the ministry as a resource when a position becomes available
and will reside online at www.tourismtoday.com.

Vanderpool-Wallace said not only would the programme offer relief
to those who don't have jobs, but it would help the tourism sector
in general.

"It will deliver the kind of valuable people in our sector that we know have been missing for some time," he said. (Nassau Guardian)